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May 23, 2013

How To Make Dark Wax For Furniture

Annie Sloan Wax can be EXPENSIVE! Yes, I’m sure it has WONDERFUL results ( I haven’t used it so I can’t attest to it) but I have found a great alternative that worked perfectly for the Boys’ Room Furniture.

First I cleaned the furniture really well and used scotchbrite to rough it up a tiny bit. Then I applied my homemade chalk paint. I decided to make my own dark wax. I found this great video tutorial on how to tint wax here.

So with paste wax and stain, I started my science experiment.

I measured out about 1/2 pint of paste finishing wax into a jar and placed it in a pot of water to melt. I heated it on medium heat until it was completely melted.

After it was completely melted, I mixed in about 1 tablespoon of the stain.

Then I let it sit for about an hour and it hardened up nicely.

Now, after applying a clear coat of wax on the drawers, I applied this tinted wax.

Can you tell?? No??

I couldn’t either!!!

I was kind of bummed but I decided try to make the wax darker.

I remelted that same wax and added black oil-based enamel to the melted wax.(Oil based is key. I do not believe a water based paint will mix with the wax.)

Now THIS is what I was going for.

I applied it generously to the drawers and then buffed it a bit WITHOUT applying clear wax first. If you don’t want to stain the paint, apply clean wax first, if you want to stain the paint (like I did) don’t apply clear wax first.

Applying the dark wax was scary but once I realized that if I got too much on, it was relatively easy to buff it off with a heavy coat of clear wax.

It was a little uneven so I applied another coat of clear wax on top of it and smoothed it out.

The above results are after being applied to a dark paint. The results below are after being applied to a light gray paint.

This wax has thrilled me. I really love the results and I had both the paint and wax so it didn’t cost me a penny!!

Comments

Looks great! Glad you are happy with how it turned out. Did you know that Minwax makes a dark paste wax? I had to find mine on Amazon because I couldn’t find it at lowe’s or home depot. But I thought I’d share that info. 🙂Kelly

Lauren, I read every single comment and I am so sorry that I have not directly responded to yours but I have actually been keeping an eye out and promise to keep it on my list of future posts! Thanks for stopping by

Holy cow I am so happy I saw this! I have my tin of Annie Sloan dark wax and the way I use it is to thin it out with paint thinner. It makes it like a glaze, but waxes at the same time so you save a step. It also dries much quicker than glaze or using stain and then still needing to wax. It does make the wax last longer, I have half a can left, but I wasn’t sure what I would do when I ran out. I am totally going to do this! Thank you!SusanSunflowerHugs

I would love for you to share and link up at my TGIF Link Party. The party is open every Thursday night and closes Wednesday’s at midnight.http://apeekintomyparadise.blogspot.com/Have a wonderful week!Hugs, Cathy

Aren’t you the enterprising one! I think I might have to try this. I bought some lime wax which gives a whitewash finish at a woodworking store, and it cost an arm and a leg for a little bitty tin. I don’t see why this wouldn’t work with clear wax and white paint, do you?

Thanks so much for sharing a DIY recipe for wax. I live in Canada and am finding it difficult to source out all the most frequently referred to waxes (and I’m cheep, too! ha!:)). I want to give this a try.

I read your instructions for making my own wax for antiquing furniture I painted with chalk paint and it came out awesome thank you! I will make my own chalk paint as I have a lot of furniture to paint!!!! Love your blog! Marti

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